The Pecan Park Eagle

Minute Maid Park is Game Ready
Winter Invitational D-II tournament Begins
February 16, 2017

Based on the lead picture, the Almost Finished Look of MMP in CF is Now in Place. We say “almost finished,” but if you look at the cropped close-up of the center field area, which follows, you will see that  it’s pretty obvious that much yet needs to be done. A green curtain has been hung to cover that unpainted yellow-block structure to the left of dead CF – and only a small tarp of green hangs over the tops stairs that lead down into that right of dead CF stands. Their current light yellow to concrete grey appearance today is certainly not the Astros Opening Day hand they plan to play.

Deep Center ~ Minute Maid Park
February 16, 2017
“Some Work Remains”

This note just came in from Mike Acosta, via to us by a notification from Darrell Pittman.

“The first baseball game of the year at Minute Maid Park is underway with the Winter Invitational D-II tournament.”

~ Mike Acosta, Authentications Administrator, Houston Astros, February 16, 2017.

We have no idea what the “Winter Invitational D-II tournament” is all about, but that isn’t pertinent to the point here. – The point here is that an actual game is now taking place for the first time today with the new MMP modified center field area now in play as part of the new home turf scenario for clubs at all levels of competency now using MMP as a place to play the game of baseball in 2017. The work isn’t finished, but it was far enough along to allow these amateur games to go go as scheduled.

I am not really sure what we were expecting to see, but whatever it was, it’s certainly less ground-sweepingly dramatic as we may have once expected it to be. Center field now has dark green where it is always needed as the background aid to hitters, but it does seem as though people movement in that new field level fenced in section could still be a distraction to some hitters – particularly to right-handed batters, but we will have to await the feedback of the MLB types to get a read on whether any remaining problem will be enough to force further fine-tuning. In general, and this comment takes into account our Eagle opposition to the removal of Tal’s Hill as a possible influence here on this generality, but, the once fluid green look of center field now seems a lot more “patchworky” by design. (I couldn’t find a legal word that truly expressed what I see here, so I took it in my own hands to invent a word that has been around the literary block a few times without finding universal acceptance as a legal English adjective or adverb candidate.)

Patchworky, it is, then – until we’ve all had a better chance to give it a full rating in person – from the completely finished product – and heard more from the people who actually play the MLB games down there on the field.

Have a nice weekend, everybody!

____________________

 Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas